


Apples and Oranges

by arrows (orphan_account)



Category: Avengers Vs X-Men - Fandom, The Avengers (2012), X-Men - All Media Types, Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Basically AvX in a High School Setting, F/M, Gen, Kate Ain't Having None of Your Shit, No Seriously There's Apples and Oranges, Paintball, The Author Regrets Nothing, Various Fruit-Related Comparisons, friendship to relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 05:29:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/arrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, That Time Kate Broke Up a War Between Two Gangs Using the Power of Paintball and Got Herself a Boyfriend All in the Same Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apples and Oranges

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt from myshipskeepsinking on tumblr: "“Apples and Oranges…” the tangerine muttered grouchily, glaring at the two gangs, who were, in turn, glaring at each other. “Why can’t they fucking get along?”"

"Apples and oranges.." the tangerine muttered grouchily, glaring at the two groups who, in turn, were glaring at each other. "Why can't they just get along?"

At Maria Stark High School, there were two groups. Apples and oranges.

Charles Xavier, who insisted everyone call him X, was the leader of the group Kate thought of as the oranges. They all thought they were cooler than everyone else, for no good reason at all.

On the other side, the "apples", a group of misfits who were always disagreeing with the oranges. Officially they were run by Steve Rogers, that kid who was super tiny a few years back but had some top secret experimental procedure and could probably be a quarterback if he wanted to. But Steve was a pacifist, really their leader was Tony Stark, rich kid extraordinaire (son of the woman who had given the money to build the school), and head of the robotics club.

X's group had some kind of special thing about them, but Kate couldn't place what it was. Maybe just that a couple of them were British. But sometimes they did weird stuff, stuff that she couldn't really explain. Oh well though, back to the story.

Kate had her group too, but they tried to stay out of the drama.

Well, until Kate unintentionally made everything better and worse at the same time.

On a spring day, the apples and oranges were arguing yet again, so Kate walked over and stood between them, holding her hands up. "Hey everyone! Lets settle this, K? Paintball fight, next Saturday. At the factory, you know the one." She walked away, back to her team, who immediately surrounded her with "Are you insane?"s and "Holy fuck Katie"s, especially from Teddy and Billy. But the apples and oranges just stood there dumbfounded, so she smirked and nodded, telling them everything was fine. Fast forward to the day before the paintball fight: the school was silent. Freshman walked through the halls with glances around them, whispering to their friends. The apples and oranges were nowhere to be seen, except a few of them (Bruce, Hank, the science geeks mostly) who didn't want to miss a day of learning.

Kate stood just outside the factory, arms crossed over her chest and a smirk in place as she watched the apples preparing. They were a pretty good team, which helped them out with paintball. Natasha and Clint, the two with the super mysterious pasts who denied they were fucking at every mention of a relationship, could definitely carry their own weight. They were sneaky, and knew how to walk silently. Tony was pretty good with a paint gun too; there were rumors that he made his own guns, real ones and paintball ones alike, in his basement. Kate wouldn't be surprised if it was true; Tony's parents were long gone and the guy taking care of him didn't seem all that sane, plus with Tony's skill at robotics he could probably build anything. And the guns they were using didn't seem to be the same as the ones she'd seen before.

X's gang was probably practicing somewhere else, she thought; there was no way they'd go into this unprepared. Sure enough, she heard some noise from the forest across the street that sounded like them.

The next day, the groups showed up at the abandoned factory at exactly ten o'clock in the morning. 

The wind whispered through the trees as if to warn anyone walking past of what was happening. Kate walked to the middle of the building, standing between the two groups as her team waited on the outskirts of the nearby forest.

"Listen up! Apples, you're on the left side of the building." She pointed to the apples and down at the line she’d drawn with chalk through the middle. "Oranges, you get the right. Anyone who crosses the line is looking to be shot. Apples, you got the red flags, hide them well. Oranges you obviously get orange. First team to get all the other teams flags or shoot everyone else wins, if you get shot you leave, no arguments." She tossed the flag to their respective teams and walked back to the doorway. "Ready. Set. Go!"

And so begins the chaos.

The game lasted about an hour, and it was difficult to tell who was winning at any point in time. Natasha and Clint were a giant asset to the apples, as predicted. They got three of the oranges' five flags right off the bat. Bruce acted as a guard for the apples flags, which weren't hidden at all (brave move, Kate thought), in fact, they were placed in a pile almost exactly where Kate had thrown them.

X had made sure the orange flags were hidden well, though to be fair there weren't that many places to hide them, so they weren't hard to find. The oranges had a lot more people, but aside from Kitty and Emma most of them didn't have a stealthy bone in their bodies, and they were picked off one by one till the numbers were even. The ones who had been shot scattered, some went to the forest to hang with Kate's team, some went home sulking in defeat, some watched from the doorway with Kate.

After half an hour, four remained on each team. Natasha, Clint, Tony, and Bruce for the apples (Steve and Thor were the biggest of them,, which made them easier targets, as well as being just a little but reckless); and X, Kitty, Emma, and Ororo for the oranges.

The rest of the game was played in near silence, the only sound being when shots rang out and missed, clanging against metal. Those watching sat on the ground and whispered to each other, not being able to decide on a winner.

Clint was the first out of the remaining apples to be shot. He was on his way to get more flags when a loud bang sounded and a bright pink spot appeared on his chest. Ever the joker, he clutched his hands above his heart and fell to the ground, closing his eyes and letting his tongue hang out in a dramatic death. Kate's laugh echoed through the room as she walked over with her hands up in a 'I come in peace don't shoot me' way and dragged Clint by the feet to the edge of the room. He opened his eyes quickly but let her, smirking up at the girl from the ground. "Hey Katie-Kate," he greeted her, earning an eye roll and a smile in response as the game started again and they sat together on the side lines.

Kitty was shot next. For all her stealth, she was still just a kid, skipping a few grades and getting to high school at the age of twelve didn't make her any more mature, or any less reckless. She curled up beside Logan, a kind of older brother figure to her (though everyone else thought he was just an ass, he did have a soft spot when it came to Kitty).

It went on like that until the apples had all but one of the flags and only two people and the oranges had three people but only one flag and it didn't seem like the game would be winnable.

And then only X and Natasha remained and there was a cowboy style showdown right in the middle. Both raised their guns and circled around each other. Charles peered at the redhead over his glasses. Twin shots rang out and neon spots of paint appeared on both remaining players.

"So who won?" Called Tony, hands on his hips defiantly. "Neither." Answered Kate, standing up from her spot with Clint and raising an eyebrow. "Its a tie. And also a metaphor for all your fighting. Nobody's ever gonna win."

They all thought about that for a moment before reluctantly nodding in agreement. X approached Tony, holding out a hand. "Friends? All this arguing is pointless, it isn't getting anyone anywhere. Besides, Hank and I would love to take a look at some of your robots one day." Tony waited a second before taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "Artificial intelligences, not robots. There's a difference. But sure, why not." A signature Stark smirk settled over his face.

"Well, that worked out nicely," Kate said to no one. Clint stood up and looked at Kate. "Nice job Katie Kate. Now that all that drama is over, wanna get coffee sometime?" Kate paused and looked at him. “You’re not fucking Natasha then?” He shook his head and she grinned. The older archer had been her friend for a while, and she may have developed a tiny crush on him. But she hadn’t done anything because she was convinced, same as everyone else, that he was with Natasha. And nobody would wanna piss off the Russian girl. "Of course. Why don't we go now?" She replied, toning her eagerness down and settling a small smile on her face.

"Sounds great. But I should prob'ly get cleaned up first." He did have a giant purple paint stain on his shirt, and more in his hair, but it was cute. "Nah, purple suits you. Come on." She looped her arm around his and strode out of the building, not giving him much choice but to follow.

Who woulda thought that one sophomore could resolve a war between two gangs and get a new boyfriend, all in the same day?


End file.
